STDS aren’t just humiliating or painful. They can cause infertility, cervical cancer—even death.
MYTH:
Oral sex is safe
TRUTH:
Despite widespread misconceptions, oral sex is risky sexual activity that puts participants at risk for a number of STDs.
Although pregnancy is not an issue with oral sex, a wide variety of STDs can be spread through oral sex.
Some of them are painful.
Some of them are untreatable.
And some of them can be deadly.
MYTH:
Condoms are effective at protecting you from infection
TRUTH:
Research shows that condoms reduce risk for some (not all) STDs, but they don’t eliminate the risk. That’s a critical distinction. Condoms do not make sex safe enough for individuals who truly wish to avoid getting STDs and suffering possible long-term effects.
FACTS:
If used 100 percent of the time (which is uncommon), condoms only reduce the risk of chlamydia and gonorrhea infection by about half.
There is virtually no evidence that condoms reduce the risk of HPV infection at all.
If used 100 percent of the time, condoms reduce the risk of HIV transmission by 85 percent.
STDS Information
Hepatitis C Infection
A significant number of people with hepatitis C have lifelong infections that can cause liver failure, cancer and death.
Hepatitis B Infection
A significant number of people with hepatitis B have lifelong infections that can cause liver failure, cancer and death.
Syphilis Infection
Left untreated, secondary syphilis may develop into the tertiary stage resulting in damage to internal organs, including the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones and joints. The damage can be serious enough to cause death.
HIV Infection
HIV usually develops into AIDS, which is often painful and deadly. More than a dozen “opportunistic” infections (ie, infections that are fought off by normal immune systems) and several types of cancer are common in AIDS patients. These infections include tuberculosis, pneumocystis pneumonia, certain types of fungal and yeast infections, and persistent and unusual intestinal infections. Common cancers include lymphomas and Kaposi’s sarcoma.
Trichomonas Infection
Trichomonas infection in pregnant women is associated with premature rupture of membranes (early breakage of the fluid sac surrounding a developing baby) and preterm labor. Finally, when a person has a trichomonas infection and then has sex with an HIV-infected person, his/her risks of contracting HIV may be increased. (HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.)
Gonorrhea Infection
Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is the most common complication of gonorrhea in women, occurring in 10-20 percent of infected females. Among US women who seek medical assistance to become pregnant, one in four are infertile because of scarring caused by PID.
Disseminated gonorrheal infection (gonorrhea infection that spreads throughout the body), occurs in about 1 percent of patients with untreated gonorrhea. The most severe complications of disseminated infection are endocarditis, which can destroy the valves of the heart, and meningitis.
Gonorrhea causes problems for pregnant women. Women who are infected are at increased risk of spontaneous abortion, premature rupture of membranes and preterm birth. Gonorrhea can also infect the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus.
Chlamydia Infection
The most serious complication of chlamydial infection is pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). PID can damage the fallopian tubes and result in tubal scarring and infertility. In fact, PID causes over 25 percent of the infertility in women pursuing in vitro fertilization in the United States. Tubal scarring can also increase the risks for developing a subsequent ectopic (tubal) pregnancy.
HPV Infection
Annually, 2.5 million women experience an abnormal Pap smear in the United States, with a majority of these due to HPV infection. Untreated cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (the “pre-cancer” that typically causes abnormal Pap smears) can develop into cervical cancer. In fact, cervical cancer occurs in approximately 13,000 women every year in the United States, and kills almost 5,000 American women yearly. HPV is the primary cause of over 99 percent of cervical cancers.
HPV is also associated with a number of other cancers, including oral, vaginal, vulvar, penile and anal cancer.
Genital Herpes
Once a person is infected with HSV-2 (s)he is probably infected for life and can transmit the infection to others even at times when (s)he is not experiencing symptoms. Approximately 90 percent of individuals with an initial symptomatic HSV-2 infection will experience at least one recurrence of symptoms within the 12 months following the initial episode, and 38 percent have at least six recurrences in the first year. Recurrence rates decrease over time, but recurrences can occur for the remainder of the person’s life.
An additional consequence of genital herpes infection is that infected individuals are at increased risk of contracting HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. They may also be more likely to spread HIV to others.
Mothers with genital herpes can transmit the infection to their newborn infants. This risk is greatest with primary (first-time) infections. With recurrent infections, the risk is less than 1 percent. Infected newborns are quite sick and often die. Genital herpes infection of the mother also increases the risk of both spontaneous abortion and premature birth.
Additional Resources:
www.medinstitute.org
www.lifeissues.org
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